First places retained, more senior colleagues change top positions

10 May 2018

Kanak Jha of the United States and China’s Qian Tianyi retain their positions at the top of the respective Under 18 Boys’ and Under 18 Girls’ World Rankings issued for May 2018; it is the same on the Under 15 World Rankings where Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin and Russia’s Elizabeta Abraamian are once again the leading names.

However, on the Under 21 listings there are changes; for the Men, Japan’s Yuto Kizukuri now occupies top spot, for the Women, Hong Kong’s Minnie Soo Wai Yam joins Japan’s Saki Shibata at the head of the list.

Minnie Soo Wai joins Saki Shibata at top of the order (Photo: Rémy Gros)

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Yuto Kizukuri advances one place on the Under 21 Men’s Rankings as do the next on the list, colleague Mizuki Oikawa and Frenchman Joe Seyfried; formerly in top spot, Korea’s Lim Jonghoon is now at no.5.

On the Under 21 Women’s order of merit, Saki Shibata retains her top spot but is joined by Minnie Soo Wai Yam; China’s Chen Ke remains at no.3 as does Miyuu Kihara in the no.4 spot; however, she is now joined in that position by colleague Miyu Nagasaki, formerly listed at no.12.

Meanwhile, on the Under 18 Boys’ World Rankings, India’s Manav Vikash Thakkar remains second in line, being followed by China’s Xu Haidong and Wang Chuqin, it is a rise of three places for Xu Haidong, a drop of one position for Wang Chuqin.

No change at the top; on the Under 18 Girls’ World Rankings, the top four names remain unchanged. Next in line to Qian Tianyi are colleagues Sun Yingsha and Shi Xunyao followed by Serbia’s Sabina Surjan. The most notable rise is that of Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz; she advances from no.13 to no.6, one place behind Chinese Taipei’s Su Pei-Ling.

Major progress for Adriana Diaz, on the Under 15 Boys’ World Rankings, the most significant progress is that made by China’s Xiang Peng and Kuang Ki; Xiang Peng moves from no.10 to no.3, Kuang Li from no.15 to no.5. Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin continues to head the list, Panama’s Jacobo Vahnish remains in second place.

Similarly, on the Under 15 Girls’ World Rankings, there is a major climb for Germany’s Sophia Klee; she is now at no.6, having previously been listed at no.13. Russia’s Elizabet Abraamian, followed by Romania’s Elena Zaharia, Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu-Jie and India’s Diya Parag Chitale continue to occupy the respective top four places.